Methods, systems, and computer program products for managing video information

ABSTRACT

Recorded video information is managed by annotation markers. The recorded video information is annotated with at least one marker and the annotated video information is saved in an electronically searchable file.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S.application Ser. No. 11/411,330 filed Apr. 26, 2006, the disclosure ofwhich is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present invention relates generally to information processing and,more particularly, to systems, methods, and computer program productsfor processing video information.

BACKGROUND

As days and years go by, people generate exponentially-increasingvolumes of personal information. Such information can include documents,e-mail messages, photos, videos, music collections, Web page content,medical records, employment records, educational data, etc. Thisprofusion of information can be organized to some degree and presented;however, it may be of limited use due to a lack of efficient datamanagement systems and methods.

Personal data may be acquired from numerous sources through a variety ofmeans. Moreover, the personal data may be stored in various places usingvarious storage means, such as, for example, on a personal computer, ona cell phone, in computer systems or in paper files at a doctor's,lawyers, and/or accountant's office, etc. The personal data may pertainto a single person or may also pertain to one or more people.

Some organizations offer storage services for information, such as, forexample, photos and music. Other organizations provide backup servicesfor all electronic information and/or paper files that a person ororganization may have. Nevertheless, there remains a need forimprovements in collecting and managing personal information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are notnecessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:

Other features of the present invention will be more readily understoodfrom the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments thereofwhen read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram that illustrates a life history in the graphicalchronological path presentation of a highway in accordance with someembodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram that illustrates a communication network formanaging audio and/or video information in accordance with someembodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a data processing system that may be used toimplement a data processing system of the communication network of FIG.2 in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention;

FIGS. 4-8 are flowcharts that illustrate operations of managing audioand/or video information in accordance with some embodiments of thepresent invention; and

FIG. 9 is a user interface for managing audio and/or video informationin accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications andalternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way ofexample in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. Itshould be understood, however, that there is no intent to limit theinvention to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, theinvention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternativesfalling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by theclaims. Like reference numbers signify like elements throughout thedescription of the figures.

As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless expressly stated otherwise. Itwill be further understood that the terms “includes,” “comprises,”“including,” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification,specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations,elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence oraddition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations,elements, components, and/or groups thereof. It will be understood thatwhen an element is referred to as being “connected” or “coupled” toanother element, it can be directly connected or coupled to the otherelement or intervening elements may be present. Furthermore, “connected”or “coupled” as used herein may include wirelessly connected or coupled.As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations ofone or more of the associated listed items.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientificterms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by oneof ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will befurther understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly useddictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that isconsistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art andwill not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unlessexpressly so defined herein.

The present invention may be embodied as systems, methods, and/orcomputer program products. Accordingly, the present invention may beembodied in hardware and/or in software (including firmware, residentsoftware, micro-code, etc.). Furthermore, the present invention may takethe form of a computer program product on a computer-usable orcomputer-readable storage medium having computer-usable orcomputer-readable program code embodied in the medium for use by or inconnection with an instruction execution system. In the context of thisdocument, a computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be anymedium that can contain or store the program for use by or in connectionwith the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

The computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be, for example butnot limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic,infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device. More specificexamples (a nonexhaustive list) of the computer-readable medium wouldinclude the following: an electrical connection having one or morewires, a portable computer diskette, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), an optical fiber, and a portable compact discread-only memory (CD-ROM).

The present invention is described herein with reference to flowchartand/or block diagram illustrations of methods, systems, and computerprogram products in accordance with exemplary embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart and/orblock diagram illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the flowchartand/or block diagram illustrations, may be implemented by computerprogram instructions and/or hardware operations. These computer programinstructions may be provided to a processor of a general purposecomputer, a special purpose computer, or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions,which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmabledata processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functionsspecified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computerusable or computer-readable memory that may direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer usable orcomputer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture includinginstructions that implement the function specified in the flowchartand/or block diagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that theinstructions that execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

As used herein, the term “file” may include any construct that binds aconglomeration of information, such as instructions, numbers, words,images, audio, and/or video into a coherent unit. Accordingly, a filemay be, for example, a document, an image, an email, a databasedocument, an application, an audio recording, a video recording, and/ora Web page.

Embodiments of the present invention are described herein with respectto managing audio and/or video information. For example, an individualmay wish to maintain an audio and/or video record of various events inhis or her life. According to some embodiments of the present invention,such audio and/or video information may be recorded and then annotatedto categorize portions of the audio and/or record and to facilitatesubsequent searching of the audio and/or video record. Moreover, U.S.patent application Ser. No. 11/031,777, entitled “GraphicalChronological Path Presentation,” describes embodiments in which achronological record of events and information in the life of a personor entity may be displayed or presented by way of a highwayrepresentation. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/031,777 (hereinafter'777 application) is hereby incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety. In some embodiments, the highway is represented as a path witha plurality of partitions. The annotated audio and/or video informationdescribed herein may, for example, be incorporated into one or more ofthe partitions comprising the path of the '777 application.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, recorded videoinformation is managed by annotation markers. The recorded videoinformation is annotated with at least one marker and the annotatedvideo information is saved in an electronically searchable file.

In other embodiments, annotating the video information with at least onemarker comprises annotating the video information with the at least onemarker while recording the video information.

In still other embodiments, annotating the video information with atleast one marker comprises playing the recorded video information for auser and inserting at least one audio and/or video marker into therecorded audio information in response to user input.

In still other embodiments, annotating the video information and savingthe annotated video information comprises processing the videoinformation to detect logical divisions therein, electronicallygenerating at least one audio and/or video marker to identify thelogical divisions in the video information, and saving the videoinformation and at least one audio and/or video marker in theelectronically searchable file.

In still other embodiments, annotating the video information and savingthe annotated video information comprises displaying the videoinformation via a user interface, adding at least one audio and/or videomarker to the video information via the user interface, and saving thevideo information with the at least one audio and/or video marker in theelectronically searchable file.

In still other embodiments, the at least one marker comprises an image,a sound, and/or text.

In still other embodiments, the at least one marker comprises a dateand/or time stamp.

In still other embodiments, recording the video information comprisesbuffering the video information and saving the buffered videoinformation responsive to user input.

In still other embodiments, recording the video information comprisesrecording the video information intermittently responsive to user input.

In still other embodiments, access to the annotated video information ispresented in a visual medium that comprises a path with a plurality ofpartitions.

In still other embodiments, saving the annotated video information inthe electronically searchable file comprises saving the at least onemarker in the electronically searchable file. The electronicallysearchable file is separate from a file containing the recorded videoinformation, but is associated therewith.

In still other embodiments, the at least one marker is substantiallyundetectable by manual review.

In still other embodiments, the at least one marker is substantiallydetectable by manual review.

Other systems, methods, and/or computer program products according toembodiments of the invention will be or become apparent to one withskill in the art upon review of the following drawings and detaileddescription. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods,and/or computer program products be included within this description, bewithin the scope of the present invention, and be protected by theaccompanying claims.

FIG. 1 illustrates a display 100, in accordance with some embodiments ofthe present invention, which includes a graphical interface of a highway102 where, for example, nearer entries 104 c are earlier in time andfarther entries 104 a are later in time. In other embodiments, this canbe reversed or factors other than time can be used, such as importanceand/or priority. Multiple lanes can be used to categorize events (asingle lane could be used if desired). Lanes may optionally show, forexample, a person's age and/or the calendar year as mile markers 108 a-dextending across the lanes, with optional displays by month, week, etc.

In some embodiments, the user reviews the events by “flying over” or“driving down” the highway 102. Control can be provided usingdirectional arrows 118 or, in other embodiments, keyboard arrows,keyboard mnemonics, a mouse, a joystick, a trackball, and/or atouchscreen. A user can also enter text data for searches or fornavigation to a specific year or age. The user can pick a lane 106 a-106n on the highway to drive in. The lane 124, 126 that the viewer(“driver”) is in may be signified by a representation of headlights andthe driver may see details of the events in that lane; but the drivermay also see events in other lanes and can move into other lanes atwill. Certain lanes and/or events may be concealed from a given vieweror class of viewers. A class of viewers may correspond to anauthorization level.

The category bar 120 holds the label for the category of the events in alane. If there are more lanes than the settings afford to fit on thescreen, the user/viewer can scroll to either side, if available, witharrows 122, 124. The user can set the level of detail for each eventwith the sliding bar 110. The user can set a maximum detail for an eventfor an authentication level settable in authentication window 114. Aviewer can see the authentication level in the authentication window114, but cannot change it. A viewer may change the detail level up tothe maximum level set by the user and may set the spacing to any desiredlevel in the spacing window 112. The settings in each window 110, 112,and 114 may be performed with sliding bars, radio buttons, or othergenerally known methods. A button 128 may be provided to invoke ananalysis of events on the highway 102.

The display date window displays the current date when entering thehighway. However, the date in the display date window 116 may change tothe date of the event that a user/viewer hovers over or selects,configurable by the user/viewer.

Other embodiments may include a feature for developing an indicationthat some event has been viewed. A trail is kept of the events that areviewed. The indication gets stronger as the event is viewed more often.As time passes, if the event is not viewed, the strength of theindication dissipates. The indication may be used to cache certainevents with strong indications for quicker access.

Embodiments of the highway 102 is described in more detail in the '777application, which has been incorporated by reference as discussedabove.

Referring now to FIG. 2, an exemplary network architecture 150 formanaging audio and/or video information, in accordance with someembodiments of the invention, comprises one or more recording devices155, a network 160, a data processing system 165, and a storage server170. In accordance with various embodiments of the present invention,the recording device(s) may be a video recorder, an audio recorder, apersonal computer with audio and/or video recording equipment, a camera,a cellular phone equipped with audio and/or video recordingfunctionality, etc. As shown in FIG. 2, the recording device(s) may beconnected to a data processing system 165 via the network 160 forfurther processing of the audio and/or video information recorded by therecording device(s) 155. In other embodiments, the recording device(s)155 may be directly connected to the data processing system 165 or therecording device(s) 155 and data processing system 165 may comprise partof a single system. The network 160 may be a global network, such as theInternet, public switched telephone network (PSTN), or other publiclyaccessible network. Various elements of the network may beinterconnected by a wide area network, a local area network, anIntranet, and/or other private network, which may not accessible by thegeneral public. Thus, the network 160 may represent a combination ofpublic and private networks or a virtual private network (VPN). Thestorage server 170 may optionally be used to store the processed audioand/or video information in repository 175 for access by one or moreusers.

The data processing system 165 may be configured to provide variousfunctionality, in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention, including, but not limited to, a buffering function 180, anelectronic correlation function 185, and a manual correlation function190. The audio and/or video information captured by the recordingdevice(s) 155 may be buffered in the recording device(s) 155 and/or maybe buffered in the data processing system 165. The recording of theaudio and/or video information may be done in a continuous, “always on”manner such that all information recorded is saved via bufferingfunctionality provided by the recording device(s) 155 and/or the dataprocessing system 165. Once recording for an audio and/or video sessionis complete, the user may elect to save the audio and/or videoinformation from the buffer to a more permanent storage location or mayelect to simply discard the audio and/or video information if the userso desires. If the buffered audio and/or video information is saved,then the user may elect to overwrite old audio and/or video informationwith the newly recorded information or, in other embodiments, may electto archive the old audio and/or video information and add the newlyrecorded information to more permanent storage. When saving the newlyrecorded audio and/or video information, the user may also elect to adda privacy safeguard to the information to prevent others from reviewingthe information if the information is stored in a location that may beaccessed by others, for example.

The recorded audio and/or video information may be processed so as toadd markers thereto that may facilitate searching of the information bythe user or others. In this regard, the data processing system 165 mayinclude an electronic correlation function 185 that may be used toelectronically process an audio and/or video file and insert markerstherein that are correlated with passages or segments of the file. Inthe case of an audio file, the electronic correlation function 185 mayprovide an audio-to-text conversion function that generates a text filebased on the recorded audio file. The text file may then be processed togenerate a concordance of words therein. The words that are deemedrelevant may then be correlated with passages in the text file to allowa user to search for keywords and then call up passages of the text thatare correlated with those keywords. In some embodiments, text-to-audioprocessing may be performed to convert the text back into audio allowingthe user to listen to the passage(s) retrieved by the keyword search. Inthe case of a video file, the electronic correlation function 185 maydetect logical divisions in the video information and insert markers inthe video file identifying these transition points.

Instead of or in addition to an electronic correlation function 185, thedata processing system 190 may include a manual correlation function 190that may provide a user with an interactive technique for annotating anaudio and/or video file with markers. One approach for manualcorrelation is for the user to simply record markers in the audio and/orvideo information in real time at the time the information is beingrecorded or for the recording device(s) to automatically inserttime-stamps in the recording at periodic intervals. A user may wish,however, to annotate the audio and/or video information after theinformation has already been recorded. Accordingly, the manualcorrelation function 190 may provide a user interface for a user toreview an audio and/or video file and to insert keywords, sounds,images, or other type of marker to facilitate searching of the audioand/or video file.

In some embodiments, the electronic correlation function 185 and themanual correlation function 190 may be used to generate a singleannotated audio and/or video file. In these embodiments, the single filecontains both audio and/or video content along with the markers insertedto annotate the file to facilitate searching. In other embodiments, theelectronic correlation function and the manual correlation function 190may be used to generate a separate annotation file that is associatedwith the audio and/or video file. In these embodiments, the audio and/orvideo file remains unchanged and the annotation file contains themarkers that may be implemented using records. Each record may includean annotation and an associated location in the original audio and/orvideo file. For example, one annotation could be “dinner conversationwith Ben about regatta results,” and the location could be in the formHH:MM:SS (relative time from start) or YYYY/MM/DD HH:MM:SS (absolutedate and time) for an audio file. Similar date/time location and/or aframe counter could be used for a video file. The separate annotationfile may be especially useful, for example, when the audio and/or videofile is stored on a read-only medium (e.g., CD or DVD) and/or when it isundesirable to alter the original file.

The buffering function 180, electronic correlation function 185, andmanual correlation function 190 will be discussed in greater detailbelow. Although FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary communication network,it will be understood that the present invention is not limited to suchconfigurations, but is intended to encompass any configuration capableof carrying out the operations described herein.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a data processing system 200 that may be usedto implement the data processing system 130 of FIG. 1, in accordancewith some embodiments of the present invention, comprises inputdevice(s) 202, such as a keyboard or keypad, a display 204, and a memory206 that communicate with a processor 208. The data processing system200 may further include a storage system 210, a speaker 212, and aninput/output (I/O) data port(s) 214 that also communicate with theprocessor 208. The storage system 210 may include removable and/or fixedmedia, such as floppy disks, ZIP drives, hard disks, or the like, aswell as virtual storage, such as a RAMDISK. The I/O data port(s) 214 maybe used to transfer information between the data processing system 200and another computer system or a network (e.g., the Internet). Thesecomponents may be conventional components such as those used in manyconventional computing devices, which may be configured to operate asdescribed herein.

The processor 208 communicates with the memory 206 via an address/databus. The processor 208 may be, for example, a commercially available orcustom microprocessor. The memory 206 is representative of the one ormore memory devices containing the software and data used for managingaudio and/or video information in accordance with some embodiments ofthe present invention. The memory 206 may include, but is not limitedto, the following types of devices: cache, ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM,flash, SRAM, and DRAM.

As shown in FIG. 3, the memory 206 may contain up to four or morecategories of software and/or data: an operating system 216, an audioprocessing module 218, a video processing module 220, and an annotationmodule 222. The operating system 216 generally controls the operation ofthe data processing system 200. In particular, the operating system 216may manage the data processing system's software and/or hardwareresources and may coordinate execution of programs by the processor 208.The audio processing module 218 may be configured to process a recordedaudio file by, for example, using speech recognition technology toconvert audio information to text information. The audio processingmodule 218 may also manage buffered audio files by saving those filesthat a user desires to maintain and deleting or overwriting those filesthat a user wishes to discard as discussed above with respect to thebuffering function 180 of FIG. 2. Similarly, the video-processing module220 may be configured to manage buffered video files by saving thosefiles that a user desired to maintain and deleting those files that auser wishes to discard as discussed above with respect to the bufferingfunction 180 of FIG. 2. The annotation module 222 may be configured toprocess saved audio and/or video files by annotating the audio and/orvideo information with one or more markers. Such markers may allow auser to categorize or highlight various portions of an audio and/orvideo file. Advantageously, this may allow a user to search more quicklyfor desired segments of an audio and/or video file using the one or moremarkers as search term(s). In accordance with various embodiments of thepresent invention described in more detail below, the annotation module222 may provide for automatic, electronic annotation of an audio and/orvideo file as discussed above with respect to the electronic correlationfunction 185 of FIG. 2 or may provide for a manual annotation of anaudio and/or video file in which one or more markers are obtained from auser through, for example, a user interface as discussed above withrespect to the manual correlation function 190 of FIG. 2. In someembodiments, the annotation module 222 need not annotate an audio and/orvideo file as a user may insert one or more markers, such as a sound,keyword, image, etc., in an audio and/or video file while the file isbeing recorded.

Although FIG. 3 illustrates exemplary hardware/software architecturesthat may be used in data processing systems, such as the data processingsystem 165 of FIG. 2, for managing audio and/or video information, itwill be understood that the present invention is not limited to such aconfiguration but is intended to encompass any configuration capable ofcarrying out operations described herein. Moreover, the functionality ofthe data processing system 165 of FIG. 2 and the data processing system200 of FIG. 3 may be implemented as a single processor system, amulti-processor system, or even a network of stand-alone computersystems, in accordance with various embodiments of the presentinvention.

Computer program code for carrying out operations of data processingsystems discussed above with respect to FIGS. 2 and 3 may be written ina high-level programming language, such as C or C++, for developmentconvenience. In addition, computer program code for carrying outoperations of embodiments of the present invention may also be writtenin other programming languages, such as, but not limited to, interpretedlanguages. Some modules or routines may be written in assembly languageor even micro-code to enhance performance and/or memory usage. It willbe further appreciated that the functionality of any or all of theprogram modules may also be implemented using discrete hardwarecomponents, one or more application specific integrated circuits(ASICs), or a programmed digital signal processor or microcontroller.

Exemplary operations for managing audio and/or video information willnow be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 2. Operations begin atblock 300 where the recording device(s) 155 records audio and/or videoinformation. In accordance with various embodiments of the presentinvention, the recording device may be always on to record a continuousstream of audio and/or video events or may be turned on and offintermittently based on user input to only record those audio and/orvideo events that are of interest to the user. Referring now to FIG. 5,the audio and/or video information may be buffered either in therecording device(s) 155 and/or the buffering function 180 of a dataprocessing system at block 400. The buffered audio and/or videoinformation may be transferred to the data processing system 165, 200where the audio processing module 218 and/or the video-processing module220 may save or discard the buffered audio and/or video informationbased on input received from a user. As indicated at block 405, the newbuffered audio and/or video information may overwrite old informationthat has been saved or the old audio and/or video information may bearchived and the newly buffered information saved without overwritingany old audio and/or video information. In some embodiments, the newlybuffered information may be saved with privacy protection at block 410.This may be useful if the audio and/or video information is stored in apublic storage location or in a location that others may have access orgain access to.

Returning to FIG. 4, at block 305, the audio and/or video information isannotated with one or more markers. As discussed above, the marker(s)may serve to categorize and/or highlight segments of the audio and/orvideo information, which may facilitate searching of the audio and/orvideo information by one or more users. In some embodiments of thepresent invention, the audio and/or video information may be annotatedwhile the audio and/or video information is being recorded. For example,a user may record sounds, such as keywords or other demarcation sounds,and/or images while the audio and/or video information is beingrecorded.

In other embodiments, the audio and/or video information may beannotated after it has been recorded. For example, referring now to FIG.6, as annotation may be more effective if done within a relatively shorttime that an audio and/or video recording has been made, the audioprocessing module 218 and/or the video processing module 220 may prompta user to annotate recorded audio and/or video information that has beenprovided by the recording device(s) 155 at block 500. In someembodiments of the present invention, the audio processing module 218and/or the video processing module 220 may play the recorded audioand/or video information at block 505, respectively, to allow theannotation module 222 to insert one or more markers into the recordedaudio and/or video information responsive to input from a user at block510. The marker(s) may be, for example, an audio marker, such as asound, keyword, or the like in the case of a recorded audio file and maybe an audio, graphic, and/or video marker in the case of a recordedvideo file.

As discussed above, the annotation module 222 may provide for electronicgeneration of one or more markers to annotate an audio and/or video filewithout the need for user input. For example, referring now to FIG. 7,the annotation module 222 may use speech recognition technology toprocess recorded audio information and convert the audio informationinto text information at block 600. The annotation module 222 maygenerate a concordance comprising selected words from the textinformation at block 605 and the text information and concordance may besaved together in an electronically searchable format such that passagesof the text information are associated with the words in the concordanceat block 610.

Similarly, referring now to FIG. 8, the annotation module 222 mayprocess video information to detect logical divisions therein, such as,for example, when a scene changes at block 700. The annotation module222 may generate one or more audio and/or video markers to identify thelogical divisions in the video information and the audio and/or videomarkers may be saved together with the video information in anelectronically searchable format at block 705.

To facilitate annotation of recorded audio and/or video information, theannotation module 222 may provide a user interface as shown in FIG. 9 inwhich a display 800 includes a window 810 in which the audio and/orvideo information may be presented to a user. For example, the videoinformation, the text information that has been generated from recordedaudio information, or the recorded audio information may be presented inthe window 810. A user may manipulate the presentation controls 820 topause, speed up, slow down, etc. the presentation to allow the user toenter custom markers in the annotation box 830, which are then added tothe video, text, and/or audio information. The custom markers mayinclude, but are not limited to, typed text, uploaded images, soundsinput through a microphone, and the like. Icons may also be provided,for example, to allow the user to input standard video markers and/oraudio markers into the video and/or audio file. This may be useful whena user simply wants to partition an audio and/or video file intosegments without the need to distinguish between markers or to addadditional information by way of the marker.

In accordance with various embodiments of the present invention, themarkers used to annotate the audio and/or video file may be constructedto be of value during a human search and/or during a mechanical search(i.e., automated search). For example, one type of marker that may beused for a video file is a visible icon or image that appears onmultiple video frames and is visible during a fast-forward operation.Similarly, for an audio file, an audio marker may be used that isaudible and understandable when the audio file is played in afast-forward manner. To facilitate a mechanical/automated search,embedded markers may be used that are virtually undetectable during amanual review. For example, a marker may be a short burst ofhigh-frequency audio that encodes the annotation and/or a digitalannotation embedded in the first few pixels of the first line of a videoimage. It will be understood that audio and/or video files may includemarkers of both types that are of value during both human searching andmechanical searching for increased flexibility in accordance withvarious embodiments of the present invention.

Returning to FIG. 4, the annotated audio and/or video information issaved as an electronically searchable file at block 310. The file mayadvantageously be searched based on the one or more markers containedtherein, such as image, sound, text, date, and/or time stamp markers.Such audio and/or video information may, for example, be used to recordvarious events for an entity, a person, the person's family, or others.In some embodiments, the recording of audio and/or video information maybe performed after obtaining the proper authorizations or permissions torecord the speech or images of others. In some instances, contributorsto the recorded audio and/or video information may be entitled to a copyor some other access to the recorded audio and/or video information. Insome embodiments, a user may also wish to assign the annotated audioand/or video file to one or more of the partitions comprising thehighway 102 of FIG. 1. The highway 102 may thus serve as a metaphor forthe user's life allowing relatively rapid access of information that maybe categorized, for example, by subject matter and/or time asillustrated in FIG. 1. Moreover, the annotation functionality providedby some embodiments of the present invention may allow a user to morereadily search audio and/or video information that has been recorded andsaved as part of the highway 102.

The flowchart of FIGS. 4-8 illustrates the architecture, functionality,and operations of some embodiments of methods, systems, and computerprogram products for managing audio and/or video information. In thisregard, each block represents a module, segment, or portion of code,which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing thespecified logical f unction(s). It should also be noted that in otherimplementations, the function(s) noted in the blocks may occur out ofthe order noted in FIGS. 4-8. For example, two blocks shown insuccession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently or theblocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending on thefunctionality desired.

Many variations and modifications can be made to the embodimentsdescribed herein without substantially departing from the principles ofthe present invention. All such variations and modifications areintended to be included herein within the scope of the presentinvention, as set forth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-readable storage device comprisinginstructions which, responsive to being executed by a processor, causethe processor to perform operations comprising: receiving a selection ofan icon to be used for annotation of content comprising a plurality ofvideo frames; generating annotated content by adjusting a subset of theplurality of video frames to include the icon, wherein a number offrames for the subset of the plurality of video frames is selected toenable the icon to be visible to a user during fast-forward operation ofthe content; and saving the annotated content in a file that iselectronically searchable based on the icon.
 2. The computer-readablestorage device of claim 1, wherein the operations further compriserecording the content.
 3. The computer-readable storage device of claim1, wherein the operations further comprise presenting a graphical userinterface that includes presentation controls, annotation options and awindow for presenting the plurality of video frames, wherein theselection of the icon is received as user input by way of the annotationoptions of the graphical user interface.
 4. The computer-readablestorage device of claim 1, wherein the generating of the annotatedcontent comprises adding an audio marker to the content.
 5. Thecomputer-readable storage device of claim 1, wherein the generating ofthe annotated content comprises processing the plurality of video framesto detect logical divisions.
 6. The computer-readable storage device ofclaim 5, wherein the generating of the annotated content comprisesadding a burst of audio to the content.
 7. The computer-readable storagedevice of claim 6, wherein the burst of audio has a frequency that isundetectable by the user during a presentation of the content.
 8. Thecomputer-readable storage device of claim 1, wherein the icon includestime information.
 9. The computer-readable storage device of claim 1,wherein the icon includes text.
 10. The computer-readable storage deviceof claim 1, wherein the generating of the annotated content includesadding an audio marker to the content that is audible to the user duringthe fast-forward operation of the content.
 11. The computer-readablestorage device of claim 1, wherein the generating of the annotatedcontent comprises: adding an audio marker to the content that is audibleto the user during the fast-forward operation of the content; adding aburst of audio to the content that has a frequency that is undetectableby the user during a presentation of the content; and embedding anannotation into a subset of pixels of a video frame of the plurality ofvideo frames.
 12. A method comprising: presenting, by a system includinga processor, a graphical user interface that includes presentationcontrols, annotation options and a window for presenting videoinformation that includes a plurality of video frames; receiving, by thesystem via the annotation options of the graphical user interface, aselection of an icon to be used for annotation of the video information;and generating, by the system, annotated video information by annotatingthe video information to include the icon on a group of video frames ofthe plurality of video frames, wherein a number of frames for the groupof video frames is selected to enable the icon to be visible to a userduring fast-forward operation of the video information.
 13. The methodof claim 12, comprising: recording, by the system, the videoinformation; adding an audio marker to audio content associated with thevideo information, wherein the audio marker is audible to the userduring the fast-forward operation of the video information; and savingthe annotated video information in an electronically searchable file.14. A system, comprising: a memory to store executable instructions; anda processor coupled with the memory, wherein the processor responsive toexecuting the executable instructions performs operations comprising:annotating content to generate annotated content, wherein the annotatingincludes adding an audio marker comprising a keyword to the content,wherein the keyword is audible and understandable to a user duringfast-forward operation of the content; and saving the annotated contentin a file that is electronically searchable.
 15. The system of claim 14,wherein the operations further comprise recording the content.
 16. Thesystem of claim 14, wherein the content comprises a plurality of videoframes, and wherein the operations further comprise adding an icon to asubset of the plurality of video frames of the content, wherein a numberof frames for the subset is selected that enables the icon to be visibleto the user during the fast-forward operation of the content, whereinthe annotated content is electronically searchable based on the icon.17. The system of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprisedetecting logical divisions in the content, and electronicallygenerating the icon to identify the logical divisions.
 18. The system ofclaim 16, wherein the icon includes time information.
 19. The system ofclaim 16, wherein the icon includes text.
 20. The system of claim 14,wherein the operations further comprise displaying the content via auser interface, wherein the keyword is received via the user interface.